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Drones, bots and automobiles: The latest from CES 2018

11th January 2018

Emily Plotkin’s final report from CES 2018.

Today marks the last full day of CES 2018—and boy, was it a great show! Though CES 2018 is almost over, the excitement around the show, displays, and announcements sure hasn’t died down. Here are some of the announcements we just have to mention before the show concludes:

Lab-Grown Bodies? Has technology really come this far?: Well, not quite. In the middle of the CES showroom there are two “lab-grown bodies inside glass pods” with “humans” that seem to be asleep inside. The only signage outside of the booth says Psychasec, and a video is also showing of this new company that can (apparently) download human minds into new bodies. So is Psychasec a real company? No, it’s actually a booth for Netflix, marketing its new show, Altered Carbon, a science fiction series about an imaginary company, Psychasec.

Mercedes was a crowd pleaser: Mercedes-Benz showed its new MBUX, a connected vehicle that understands voice commands and comes equipped with a beautiful high-resolution touch screen.

A robotic ATV that can put out fires (literally): Honda showed off its new Honda 3E-D18—which is basically an autonomous ATV. Honda suggested that this vehicle can be used for many things, including snow-blowing, crop harvesting, and firefighting.

The New York Times thinks Amazon beat Google at CES this year: Though it was hard to walk by the Google exhibit and not stop and check out the new devices, Amazon “dominated” the showroom with the numerous products it displayed that used the Alexa voice assistant—everything from mosquito zappers to robovacuums.

A drone for under $100—yes, it’s real: Ryze Tech (a startup) introduced Tello, a tiny drone, at CES this year, for only $99. It of course doesn’t have all the high end features you’ll find in top of the line drones, but it does have a 720p video camera and can be controlled by your phone.

It has been a great CES this year (despite the minor blackout), and we already can’t wait to be back next year, to see the latest advancements in technology.

Emily Plotkin is an account executive in Grayling’s Los Angeles team.

Grayling Team

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